Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Ockty the Octopus

So I brought some dry-ice (frozen carbon-dioxide) home, and we proceeded to play it it. (caution, dry ice can cause serious freeze burns, so always closely supervise children around it). We put it in water, dumped some in the sink to see the fountains of mist it produced (and the fountains of smoky bubbles from the detergent in the sink). Added some Ph indicator to watch the indicator change colour as the CO2 made the water more acid, and look at the change of volume in going from solid to gas.

We put about a cup of dry ice into a disposable washing up glove and watched it swell. MiddleOne added the eyes and such and it became Octy the Octopus. It swelled and swelled, dramatically showing the difference between something in solid phase and the equivalent amount of matter in gaseous phase. Great fun was had by all.

Oh, and no rubber gloves were harmed in this experiment, Octy didn't explode, and is sitting on the table at the moment.